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| Sunday, June 4, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Illicit felling: 33 cases detected Strike to keep Kol Dam HQ in
Bilaspur Curbs on movement on border
A road of hope |
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Shandil named
vice-president of Sukh Ram group Dalai Lama praises Indian
judiciary Congress to stage dharnas Vidya Stokes’ denial CRPF team visits site for group
centre Probe sought into road scandal Step-father booked for rape Kangra valley fest from June 8 Special buses for entrance test
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Illicit felling: 33 cases
detected SHIMLA, June 3 — In a special drive to check illegal felling of trees in the state, the Enforcement Wing of the police detected 33 cases of unauthorised felling involving timber worth over Rs 1.85 crore. The biggest haul of illicit timber comprising 6266 scantlings of deodar, rai and kail, was seized in Hubban range of Sirmaur district. The police is probing the involvement of revenue and forest officials, besides the field staff of Forest Corporation. Test checks of 4 khasras in Sarwa and Dhamla Mauza revealed that important record pertaining to marking, felling orders, the conversion registered and also the stump counting register had been wrongly prepared to benefit the contractors. This also facilitated mixing of unauthorised felled timber and the one allotted to villagers under timber distribution (T.D.) rules with the wood converted from private lots. False records had been prepared and volume of standing and converted timber had been inflated. It was found that the revenue forest and corporation staff concerned had shown 35 trees of deodar and kail felled from the khasra while the actual number was only 16 trees. The rest were unauthorisedly felled from adjoining government forests and mixed with those of private lots in connivance with the officials. At Sarwa depot of the corporation 853 scantlings were found in excess as per stock register. The conversion process of this lot had been completed in September, 1999, and excess timber was kept to be mixed with timber extracted from private lots by the private contractors to share the booty. Various other irregularities in marking and felling, affixing of property hammer marks were also detected. Illicit felling of 120 khair trees worth Rs 1.5 lakh was detected in the forest range of Jhandutta of Bilaspur division. These trees had been felled from government land whereas 120 trees purchased by Mr Sunil Kumar, contractor, for felling under private sale were still found standing. Similarly, unlawful felling of 20 "oak" and five deodar trees worth Rs 4.5 lakh in Nauni and Khaldar forest of Solan district and of 11 trees of deodar in the area adjoining Marawog forest of Chopal division. In Chamba district 110 sleepers connected with illicit felling valued at Rs 6.53 lakh were recovered and in Kulu district four cases of illicit felling involving timber worth Rs 3.73 lakh were detected. According to Mr V.K. Malik Additional Director General of police, during the current year the state police had also detected 115 cases of unauthorised felling involving timber worth Rs 18 lakh besides, the 33 cases unearthed by the enforcement department. Total property involved in these forest cases is more than Rs 2.03 crore. He said Mr P. K. Dhumal,
Chief Minister, on whose directions the drive was
launched, had asked the department to give rewards to
those who provided credible information regarding illicit
felling and pilferage of other forest wealth. They would
also be entitled to 25 per cent of the value of illegal
timber seized. |
Strike to keep Kol Dam HQ in
Bilaspur BILASPUR, June 3 — All shops and businesses including khokhas and rehris observed a complete strike yesterday to demand location of Kol Dam colony in Bilaspur district and the project headquarters at Bilaspur town. They protested against a proposal to get the Prime Minister to lay the stone of the project at Kangoo on June 5 and demanded that the foundation stone be laid either at the Dam construction site or at least in the district. They feared that laying of the stone at Kangoo Sundernagar tehsil of Mandi district was the precursor to location of the project colony and headquarters at Kangoo some other place in Mandi district. Instead of in Bilaspur, which will suffer the most on implementation of the project through submergence of land and uprootment of families. Beopar mandal members also sat on "dharna" on the national highway and blocked vehicular traffic near sadar Bilaspur. Addressing a largely attended meeting of prominent citizens here last night Health and Family Welfare Minister Jagatprakash Nadda had sought to allay fears that the foundation laying ceremony at Kangoo would disadvantage Bilaspur district. He and other top BJP
leaders including Suresh Chandel, Member Parliament and
Karamdey Dharmani, KK Kaushal and Randhir Sharma
announced gave on assurance that Kol Dam colony would be
constructed at a suitable place in Bilaspur district,
while the project headquarters had already started
functioning at Barmana in Bilaspur district. Despite this
assurance the strike went ahead as scheduled. |
Curbs on movement on border KANGRA, June 3 — Jammu and Kashmir terrorists and foreign mercenaries, will have a harder time entering Himachal after the appointment of 467 special police officers armed with sophisticated weapons and constitution of village defence committees along the border areas of Chamba district. Mr T.R. Mahajan, Director General of Police, HP said at a press conference at Dharamsala yesterday that he had just returned from the forward posts of Chamba. Not a single incident of terrorism had been reported from any part of the state during the past two years despite a number of terrorists sneaking in and being arrested here. Regarding progress in the case of arrested Maulvi Mohammed Oias Ahmad, arrested by the Kangra police on January 11 from an Army mosque at Yol camp for carrying audio cassettes of the speeches of Maulvi Mohammed Masood Azhar. The DGP refused to divulge anything. He said patrolling had been intensified in Chamba district and no one was being allowed to cross from J&K to HP. Even HP nomads have been asked to move with their cattle only within HP territory and avoid crossing over to J&K to avoid any mishap. Mr Mahajan was at
Dharamsala in connection with 49th All India Police Games
scheduled to end tomorrow. 1250 players from 27 states
and union territories are participating in kabaddi,
basket ball, hand ball and volley ball. |
A road of hope KASAULI: Work has started on the Kimughat-Chakki-ka-Mor. The road will link about 15 villages. The survey for this project was conducted in 1978. Politicians made promises during election time about the project and forgot about it after being voted to power. Some politicians even go the area surveyed each time the elections approached. Finally in 1990, after repeated requests and persuasion by the villagers, a sum of Rs 15 lakh was paid to those whose land was acquired for the project. But it took another nine years to get the land vacated in spite of paying the compensation. The demarcations for constructing the road were undertaken in 1996 by the PWD. Last year the project was placed in the Chief Minister’s priority scheme. After this the implementation of the said project started. Up till now about 6 km of the land has been cleared. This also includes a stretch of 1.275 hectares of forest land. The necessary permission for the use of forest land for the construction of the road has been sought from the Ministry of Environment. The Forest Department and the PWD are working together to complete the project. The road, when completed, will benefit the villagers who grow cash crops like tomatoes, vegetables and stone fruits. The produce is carried on hired mules to the nearest market at Chakki-ka-Mor, about 15 km away. This increases its cost. Often these small farmers fail to get an appropriate price for their produce. A number of people have
domesticated jersey cows, buffaloes. There is no
veterinary dispensary, high school in this stretch of 15
villages. Even the school and the Public Distribution
System centre is about 5 km away. |
Shandil named vice-president of
Sukh Ram group SHIMLA, June 3 — MR Dhani Ram Shandil, MP, has been appointed vice-president of the Sukh Ram faction of the Himachal Vikas Congress. A spokesman of the faction today said that Mr Shandil would also look after the party work in the Shimla (reserve) constituency. Mr Sukh Ram, who allocated the party work among leaders of his faction, will himself look after the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency, while his son, Mr Anil Sharma, member of Rajya Sabha, will take care of the Kangra parliamentary constituency. The working president of the party, Mr Vijay Joshi, will look after the Hamirpur constituency. Mr Shiv Lal will look
after the organisation and membership and Mr Chaman Lal
Gachli will be incharge of the frontal organisations. |
Congress to stage dharnas SHIMLA, June 3 — The Congress Party has decided to organise dharnas in all blocks and tehsils of the state on June 5 to protest against withdrawal of subsidies on foodgrains under the public distribution system and hike in the electricity tariff and prices of kerosene, LPG, urea and fertilisers which has badly hit the poor. Mr A.M. Bazwaria,
permanent secretary of the HPCC, said here today that the
Congress would oppose the anti-farmer and anti-poor
policies of the BJP governments in the state and at the
Centre. |
CRPF team visits site for
group centre NURPUR, June 3 — A team of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Jalandhar, headed by Mr Gurcharan Singh, Additional DIG, today visited the surrounding areas of Kopra gram panchayat on the suburbs of the town and inspected the site for the proposed CRPF group centre. The Himachal Pradesh
Government has handed over the land for the proposed
centre to the CRPF. The Union Government has also given
its nod for the centre. |
Probe sought into road scandal SHIMLA, June 3 — The state committee of the Democratic Youth Federation of India has demanded an inquiry into the Bhanjararoo-Shahra-Gotha road construction scandal in Churah Tehsil of Chamba district. Mr Tikender Singh, secretary of the federation, stated the road was notified way back in 1971 and every year funds were allotted for its maintenance and even utilised formally. But in reality no such road existed. He demanded action against the officials responsible for the fraud. He alleged that when the
federation exposed this scandal and staged a protest, the
Chamba police implicated them in false cases. |
Dalai Lama praises Indian
judiciary DHARAMSALA, June 3 — Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama described China as a powerful country which was exploiting its power to damage humanity and human values. He was talking to a delegation of Christian Bishops of northern India who called on him at Mc-Leodgung near here, yesterday. He appreciated the role of India and said India had never exploited its power as it had a rich and ancient cultural heritage behind it. In reply to a question, he said that the Indian judiciary was fair and judicious. Asked why Indians were adopting western culture, he said it was the result of materialism in society. He suggested that the trend towards westernisation be stopped as it did not give mental peace. He expressed concern over the growth of fundamentalism which globally blaming it on lack of education and awareness of other religions and people. Expressing concern over
the population explosion in India, the Dalai Lama said in
his opinion population explosion was responsible for
unemployment and the problem could be solved by shifting
people from urban to rural areas. |
Vidya Stokes’ denial SHIMLA, June 3 – A Senior Congress leader and former Speaker, Mrs Vidya Stokes, has denied that she had said that cases were registered against her during the regime of Mr Virbhadra Singh to harass her. Mrs Stokes said that
such reports were being spread by elements who wanted to
create a wedge and misunderstanding among the top
leadership of the Congress Party here. |
Step-father booked for rape KUMARHATTI, June 3 — Shri Ram of Ganguri village, about 25 km from here, has been booked for allegedly raping his 12-year-old step daughter for one year. His act came to light on Thursday when the mother of the daughter caught him red-handed. The girl said she was raped six times and was being threatened with dire consequence if she told anyone about it. A case under Section 376
and 506 of the IPC has been registered. |
Kangra valley fest from June 8 JAWALAMUKHI, June 3 — The three-day Kangra valley summer festival will be organised from June 8 at the Police grounds Dharamsala. It will be inaugurated by Technical Education Minister, Himachal, Ravinder Singh Ravi. According to the Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, Mr R.C. Kapil apart from cultural programmes, exhibition, baby show, flower show, dog show, and games would be organised. Mr Kapil said the
Swar-gandha programme to be staged on June 8 by girls of
government high school Garli Pragpur would have jhamakhra
dance. |
Special buses for entrance test SHIMLA, June 3 — The HRTC will tomorrow run special buses for carrying students to the HPU for appearing in the entrance test for Regional Engineering College, Hamirpur. These buses will
originate from the bus stand, Sanjauli, Vikas Nagar and
New Shimla at 7.30 a.m., a spokesman of the HRTC said. |
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